Amnesty International USA is calling on Congress to intervene as the U.S. military’s campaign of strikes against suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean approaches its one-year mark.
The military campaign, which began September 2, 2025, has resulted in 227 reported deaths across 68 separate strikes, according to administration figures and media reports.
The U.S. Southern Command, based in Miami, has carried out operations targeting vessels along known maritime trade routes, with the latest strike occurring in the Caribbean Sea and killing four people accused of drug trafficking.
READ MORE: US military says it killed four in strike on alleged drug-smuggling boat in the Caribbean
Amnesty International USA says the operations and attacks represent a series of illegal actions.
"For one year, the U.S. military has carried out a campaign of extrajudicial killings at sea that has left more than 225 people dead, with the most recent four deaths just six days ago," said Amanda Klasing, National Director for Government Relations at Amnesty International USA, in a statement Monday. "For just as long, we have called on Congress to take meaningful action to stop these killings, which are illegal under both international and U.S. law."
President Donald Trump has previously defended the maritime offensive, declaring the U.S. to be in an "armed conflict" with cartels and framing the strikes as necessary steps to stem the flow of illegal narcotics entering the country. However, human rights groups emphasize that authorities have failed to produce evidence verifying that the targeted individuals were smuggling narcotics or to publish the names of those killed.
"U.S. authorities have yet to offer a shred of evidence to support their claims against the people they have killed," Klasing said. "They have not even named the dead. But even if the victims were transiting narcotics as the administration alleges, international law absolutely prohibits summary killings of criminal suspects."
Klasing said U.S. lawmakers must halt the military strikes and called for investigations into top officials involved in ordering the campaign, including President Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
